Copperhead (New Earth)
Shortly thereafter, Copperhead escaped from prison and decided to forego petty thefts in favor of becoming a master assassin. Copperhead was later invited by Manhunter Paul Kirk to join the Secret Society of Super-Villains. To test Copperhead's worthiness, he partnered him with Gorilla Grodd and instructed them to break into a scientific research station housed within a lighthouse on San Francisco Bay and steal a sample of Plutonium. While Grodd dealt with the guards, Copperhead stole the Plutonium, but Grodd betrayed him, taking the element for himself and leaving Copperhead behind to be arrested. While in jail Copperhead was broken out by Lex Luthor in exchange for leading him to the Sinester Citadel so he could become the new leader of the Society. Copperhead then stuck with the group even after Luthor left helping them pull of a group of robberies. During this time Copperhead developed a conflict with his fellow Society member Wizard who thought that the groups leader Funky Flashman was taking all the groups money for himself. At first disagreeing Copperhead later began to doubt Flashman and eventually relised Wizard was right that Flashman was using the Society's money for his own uses. Copperhead then abandend his fellow members Gorilla Grodd and Star Sapphire on a mission partly because of this reason never to rejoin. Copperhead was later hired to assassinate an important French finance minister in Paris. Fortunately for the minister, the Elongated Man had been visiting Paris at the time and prevented Copperhead from fulfilling his contract. The villain known as Warp helped Copperhead to evade arrest. Soon after, Copperhead and Warp teamed up with an Italian criminal named Il Calamari and had rematch with the Elongated Man at the Pan-European Economic Conference. They nearly defeated the hero, but his Justice League Europe teammate, the Flash arrived and together they were able to turn the tables on Copperhead and his cohorts. -3 Later, Copperhead was hired by gangster Ira Gamboli to kill shyster business manager Rex Leech over some money that was owed to him. Copperhead traveled to Hawaii and attacked Rex outside the Compound. Rex's client, Superboy fought against Copperhead and Saved Rex's life. Superboy (Volume 4) #12 Shortly thereafter, Copperhead encountered the demon Neron, who bestowed upon him the powers of a true Copperhead snake. Copperhead's body and mind became less human and more like that of a predatory animal. Copperhead returned to Hawaii to get revenge on Superboy and nearly beat him. He even succeeded in piercing Superboy's near-invulnerable skin. As Copperhead closed in for the kill, Superboy succeeded in pushing him off a cliff. Superboy (Volume 4) #38 Copperhead continued to evolve and became a vicious serial killer who consumed his victims after slaughtering them. He was eventually captured and placed on trial in a Los Angeles criminals court. Prosecuting the case was district attorney Kate Spencer. Copperhead received a verdict of not guilty by way of genetic anomaly and was sentenced to be taken to a Metagene research facility in Death Valley. Copperhead escaped during transport and managed to murder several more people. Upon hearing of Copperhead's escape, Kate Spencer adopted the guise of the Manhunter and fought with Copperhead in the sewers beneath Los Angeles. She used her power baton to blast a hole through Copperhead's head, killing him. At the time of his death, Copperhead had managed to murder more than forty-eight people. Manhunter (Volume 3) #1 | Powers = | Abilities = * Contortionism: Prior to his pact with Neron, Copperhead possessed the ability to bend and flex his body to extreme degrees. | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = When he was still human, Copperhead wore a special insulated suit that protected him from limited degrees of physical punishment, and was proof against electric shock. | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = | Trivia = | DC = | Wikipedia = Copperhead (DC Comics) | Links = }} Category:Assassins Category:Contortionism Category:Criminals Category:Secret Society of Super-Villains I members Category:Serial Killers Category:Silver-Age Characters Category:Suicide Squad members